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FDA’s CBD actions and the potential effects on the CBD market

As many in the marijuana and hemp industry are aware, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has recently turned its focus on cannabidiol (CBD). In 2015 alone, the FDA has sent 7 warning letters to companies that are currently marketing CBD in various forms as a dietary supplement. While some in the hemp CBD market claim that the FDA’s letters only apply to CBD derived from marijuana, this is simply not the case as set forth in the FDA Q&A question number 12. Many of these warning letters were sent to sellers of hemp oil products marketed as high CBD without regard for the CBD was derived from marijuana or hemp.

The FDA has also granted GW Pharma fast-track approval for studies of potential drugs that include CBD as a main active ingredient, and the studies are well underway. This classification significantly impacts to CBD industry as it effectively shuts the door on CBD being classified and marketed as a dietary supplement.

This is due to the fact that FDA rules prohibit a substance from being defined as a dietary supplement after investigations for that substance as a pharmaceutical have been authorized and initiated. The FDA has the power to regulate products claiming health benefits under the commerce clause of the United States Constitution, and indeed they have cited interstate commerce in their warning letters to CBD marketers.

While companies generally cannot specifically market their CBD products as having health benefits or as a dietary supplement, hemp products or hemp oils are still being marketed as containing CBD as an ingredient. Have these companies taken appropriate steps to comply with the FDA’s position regarding CBD?